Visionaries
by Akatsuki210
Summary: Madara sees through his brother's eyes, and the Corinthian sees through...quite a lot of people's.  Crossover with Sandman, one shot.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Naruto_, _Sandman_, or any of the characters from either series.

**Note:** There are no manga spoilers in the story itself, but there are a couple in the Author's Note at the end, so don't read that if you aren't up to date.

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**Visionaries**

Madara swung his battle-fan, and a gust of wind burst forth, empowering the katon jutsu he had released a second earlier. The gout of wind-enhanced flame rushed over the battlefield, consuming everything in its path.

Madara held a ready position, but no more attackers showed themselves. With a flicker of satisfaction, he lowered his fan as he surveyed the scene before him. Now that he had a chance to look at it properly, he remembered it. This was the site of the first battle he'd fought as Clan Head. It had been a victory, of course.

He'd noticed over the years that most of his dreams were of the past. His mind seemed to delight in showing him scenes of his "glory days," when the Uchiha had been one of the most powerful clans in the world, and he had been the most powerful of the Uchiha. Everything had been simple then: he and Izuna had led their troops out to some distant field, they'd fought their opponents, and they'd returned triumphant. There wasn't really any such thing as "politics," unless you counted fighting to find out who was stronger as a form of politics.

Of all the old battles he relived while he slept, this was one of the most frequently replayed. Not only had it been an important milestone in his life, it exemplified what could have been if the other Uchiha hadn't been so spineless as to give in to the Senju's entreaties for peace.

Madara spied movement out of the corner of his eye, and raised his fan again, but the other person who shared his dreamscape didn't seem intent on attacking. He was strolling among the corpses strewn around the battlefield, glancing at one and then another as if he found them mildly interesting. He was dressed strangely, in a white sleeveless shirt that revealed well-muslced arms, and blue pants made from some kind of canvas-like material. Dark glasses covered his eyes, a fact that displeased Madara, since it would make it difficult to esnare the man in genjutsu if he turned out to be hostile.

Madara propped his battle-fan on one shoulder and sauntered over to the other man. Despite his slow gait and the way his free hand hung loosely at his side, he was ready to spring into battle again at a moment's notice. In his experience, only mediocre shinobi actually looked tense in a dangerous situation. The truly great shinobi always appeared relaxed and at ease, lulling any potential enemies into a false sense of security before annihilating them.

The stranger looked up as Madara approached, and he was the one who spoke first. "Have you ever noticed how ravens and crows on a battlefield always go for the eyes? Shows they have good taste, in my opinion."

"There are some who say ravens are symolic of the Shinobi Way, since they thrive on death and derive their sustenance from carnage." _Izuna used to summon them_, he thought, but didn't say out loud.

"A lot of worlds have similar beliefs," the man said. "I suppose this is your dream, then?"

Madara nodded.

"And whose dream do I have the pleasure of sharing?"

"Uchiha Madara. And you are...?"

The man grinned. "You can call me The Corinthian."

"And _what _are you?"

The grin widened. "I'm a nightmare."

Madara snorted and walked away, stepping carefully over the corpses as he went. Behind him, he heard footsteps as The Corinthian hurried to catch up.

"That's it? No shock, no questions, just 'hmph' and you walk away?"

"I am not a man to be frightened by anything so childish as a nightmare," Madara answered coldly.

The Corinthian threw back his head and laughed. "Childish! I assure you I'm nothing so silly as the amorphous thing that hides under a child's bed, nothing so easily disposed of as phantoms that can be banished by a night-light. And you ought to know that better than anyone. Why, you and I are practically kin."

Madara spun around, and now he held the battle-fan in front of him, his free hand raised in a seal. "Kin? You are no kin of mine. Can you drown a man's mind in illusions with a glance? Can you burn him to ash where he stands with nothing more than a breath? Can you steal his most powerful techniques and turn them against him? _That_ is what it means to be an Uchiha, which you most assuredly are _not_."

The Corinthian stepped back, and held up his hands in a placating gesture. "I don't mean that we're kin by blood, but blood is not the _only_ way to be kin. Look." In one swift motion, he pulled off his dark glasses. _Fool_, was Madara's first thought, for who would knowingly expose their eyes in the presence of an Uchiha? But then he saw what lay (or, more precisely, what didn't lie) beneath the glasses.

The Corinthian had no eyes.

In the empty sockets where eyes should be, there were two small mouths. They were at the edge of the battlefield now, and the Corinthian crouched beside one of the bodies there. Expertly, as if he'd done it a thousand times before, he gouged the corpse's eyes neatly from their sockets and placed them in his own. They were the muddy-brown eyes of a Chuunin from some Wind Country clan whose name had been forgotten by history. Not particularly worthy eyes, but Madara supposed The Corinthian didn't know that.

"Most people," the Corinthian said, "would be afraid to see the world through another person's eyes, to leave their own perspective and preconceptions behind. Only a _visionary_ has the courage to see reality as another sees it. _That's_ what I meant when I said that we're like kin. Neither of _us_ was afraid to look through someone else's eyes."

Madara considered this for a few moments, then lowered his fan. He mouthed no words of agreement, but didn't object when the Corinthian walked beside him as he left the battlefield behind.

"I must admit," the nightmare said, "you're much calmer than most of the people who've seen my nature."

Madara shrugged, as if to say, _Of course. What else did you expect from a scion of the Uchiha?_

A cluster of buildings loomed up in front of them, and the moon rose high in the sky overhead (although it had seemed to be noon only a few minutes before). This new cityscape was eerily silent, and the reason for the silence became clear as they stepped onto a cobbled street.

Corpses lay in the streets, and in the doorways, and even on the rooftops. The Corinthian raised an eyebrow. "Do you ever dream about anything _but_ fighting?"

Madara didn't dignify this question with a response, instead wandering through the streets without any particular destination in mind. Unlike most of his dreams, in this one, the battle was already over.

The Corinthian looked around with a expression of curiosity on his face. _Putting those new eyes to good use, are we?_ Pointing at the emblem on a door, he observed, "That's the same crest as the one on your clothing."

"Yes," Madara replied without any visible emotion, "these people _are_ my kin."

Madara turned a corner and walked a little further, stopping when he heard The Corinthian come to a dead halt behind him. "What is it?"

"This one's alive." The Corinthian nudged an unconscious boy with one toe. Tears were drying on his face, and his black hair stuck up messily in the back. "Who is he?"

"Now? Just a pathetic, mewling child. But someday..." A tiny smile played around the edges of Madara's mouth. "Someday, he'll be a _visionary._"

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**-Warning, spoilers in A/N ahead-  
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**A/N:** So, the Madara here is obviously meant to be "real" Madara, and not "Tobidara" whoever that turns out to be. His timeline is all up in the air at the moment, so I couldn't tell you when exactly this takes place, except that it's after the Uchiha Massacre. I had the first incarnation of the Corinthian in mind for this, which would put it fairly early in the _Sandman_ timeline.

I've been rereading _Sandman_ recently, and it just occurred to me that with the Corinthian's penchant for taking eyes, it might be interesting for him to meet up with Madara, who took his own brother's eyes, in the Dreaming. That's all I can really offer by way of explanation for this.

Reviews would be lovely!


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